The project of bringing together two of the most colourful and exceptional figures of the early thirteenth century is bold, imaginative and ambitious, especially when two lives differ so markedly, one based on a secular kingdom which was defended and enlarged and the other grounded in a detachment from the norms of secular society and all forms of power. There are some parallels between the ruler who was given the sobriquet of stupor mundi and the saint known as il poverello d'Assisi. The lives of these two extraordinary men intersect in relation to some places and people. Both were baptised in San Rufino, the newly rebuilt cathedral of Assisi, and had significant dealings with Innocent iii, Honorius iii and Cardinal Hugolino, the future Gregory ix, whom the author describes as ‘a pigheaded pope’ (p. 246). The decision to proceed chronologically brings its own disadvantages, especially where the sources for one life are fuller than the other in any particular year; this is compounded by the fact that Francis died in 1226 and Frederick in 1250. The death of il poverello occurs at the end of chapter ix, half-way through the book and thereafter his name is mentioned intermittently and briefly. The materials surrounding the early life of the future emperor are abundant, while little is known with any certainty about the life of Francis until 1206. Discussion of the aftermath of the Fifth Crusade is weighted towards Frederick with Francis relegated to a single sentence (p. 180). Cassady frequently intrudes himself in the body of the text (for example, pp. 172, 217, 281, 331) and occasionally sounds like the author of a travel guide. A reference to Frederick's visit to Sanckt Gallen leads to an excursus on the decoration of the Stiftsbibliotek and its precious wooden floors, in the room where the manuscripts are exhibited (pp. 84–5). A description of modern Bologna and its shops is given. The benefits of eating ravioli ‘cooked in a sealed balloon of flaky puff pastry filled with creamy cheese sauce’ are extolled; later there is a brief allusion to the church of San Domenico and its decoration (pp. 161–3). The account of Frederick's second visit to Rome in 1220 informs readers that the basilica di San Pietro would be rebuilt in the sixteenth century (p. 166). These asides distract readers from the course of Frederick's life and his military plans. Despite the short title of the volume, The emperor and the saint, the primary focus and sympathy are with the former. While each stage of Frederick's life is addressed in some detail, Francis attracts comparatively less space and sensitivity; many judgements about him fail to carry conviction. Cassady makes little attempt to examine and explain the reasons for Francis's expulsion of the friars, including the sick, from the new friary and school at Bologna. Francis's abhorrence of ownership – a fundamental betrayal of the order's renunciation of material goods – is passed over in silence and treated as an aberration. Similarly, the curse imposed upon Peter Staccia does not belong to the early hagiographical tradition (p. 149). The report that Francis abhorred the thought of bodily contact between the sexes is puzzling and reflects too literal a reading of Thomas of Celano's Vita secunda (p. 101). The reference to Bernard of Quintavalle's ‘mansion’ is something of an exaggeration. A walk along the Assisi's Via di Bernardo d'Quintavale reveals that there was nothing palatial about it (pp. 57–8). The date of Francis's canonisation is erroneously given as 29 July 1228 rather than 16 July. The author lapses into fantasy in speculating that St Clare and her sisters enjoyed an outing to the canonisation (p. 260). Two words are merged – hisexpressive and makeeven and Muslimhands (pp. 45, 325, 399).